The Love of Food

The Best Tres Leches Cake, EVER!

It’s funny how people volunteer their ‘best’ recipes with me when I tell them I write a food blog, including my friends. My good friend Eddie told me he had the best recipe for Tres Leches cake, which if you understand Spanish, you know it means 3 Milks Cake. It’s a fluffy scratch cake soaked in 3 kinds of milk: whole milk in the batter, sweetened condensed & evaporated milk pour over the cake after it’s baked. You think that’s rich? Eddie then frosts his Tres Leches cake with a yummy homemade whipped cream frosting.

Tres Leches

I knew it was the best Tres Leches cake ever when we converted my cousin Michelle from a die hard vanilla frosting fan into a Tres Leches Fan! When I presented her with a slice she immediately turned her nose up and admonished me for trying to pass off a cake with whipped cream for frosting. “That’s not frosting!” she exclaimed. But I convinced her to take one little bite, after that she had 3 servings and called me the next day to tell me she was craving Tres Leches! YES!!! We did it!

The Tres Leches is best served after sitting for several hours or overnight in the fridge so the milks have time to permeate every single crumb in the cake. I classify this cake as a comfort food for the simple fact that when you eat it you feel all warm and gooey inside. Exactly what a comfort food should do. I encourage you to double this recipe as one will not be enough and you’ll be a Dessert SUPERSTAR!

Preheat your oven to 350.

For the cake:

1 cup AP flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup milk

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Mix in a separate bowl and set aside:

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 12 oz can evaporated milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp superfine sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Eddie Making Tres Leches

Start off by greasing an 9 inch cake pan with butter then dust it with some flour. Separate the eggs and beat the whites in a mixer and slowly add the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks to this mixture and blend until well combined. Sift the flour together with the baking soda and add it the egg mixture alternating with the milk. Be sure to start and finish with the flour. Add the vanilla extract to the batter and pour into your cake pan. Bake the cake in the oven for about 35 – 40 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

In another bowl combine the evaporated and condensed milks and set in the fridge until your cake is out of the oven. For the frosting I recommend putting the cream and a glass bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill. Chilling the cream and the bowl help the cream beat up faster and fluffier. Eddie mixes his frosting by hand and the flavor and texture that he achieves is well worth the effort. He uses a hand mixer and starts off by slowly beating the cream and gradually adding the sugar. Superfine sugar is best to use in this frosting because it dissolves quickly.

Cool your cake for about 15 minutes then take a skewer or a toothpick and poke several holes into the top of the cake so the milk has somewhere to go when you pour it all over the cake. Be sure to use a dish with a rim to set your cake in before pouring the milk over it so that you don’t get milk all over your table and floor. Eddie uses a ladle to slowly pour the milk mixture over the cake. Do this until the milk is all gone. You can now frost your cake with the whipped cream. And as I mentioned earlier, for best results let your cake sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Overnight is best.

Eddie Frosts the Tres Leches Cake

If you are looking for a new dessert to add to your holiday table this year, this is it! I can assure you it will be the hit of the night and so will you! Enjoy.